Injury ends Mack Strong's career

Hawks' longtime fullback has herniated disc in neck

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, October 8, 2007

Monday was expected to be devoted to rehashing everything that went wrong during the Seahawks' 21-0 setback to the Steelers in Pittsburgh on Sunday, but the focus instead was on Mack Strong.

The veteran fullback has played his final down for the team -- after 15 seasons, countless lead blocks and a career full of memories.

Against the Steelers, Strong, 36, herniated a disc in his neck that was pinching on his spinal cord. The injury was originally called a stinger Sunday.

"It was a lot more severe than that," Strong said.

Strong said he is grateful that he will not need surgery, but he made it clear that he also doesn't need to inflect any more punishment on his body.

"To me, it's a no-brainer. I've given every ounce inside of me to football," said Strong, who was forced to pause and gather his emotions twice while discussing the sudden end to his improbable career and the importance of life after football with his wife, Zoe, and their two children.

"I have no regrets. It's time to move on to bigger and better things."

Strong has played with and through a medical journal of injuries since joining the Seahawks in 1993 as an undrafted rookie out of Georgia. Stingers. Concussions. Strains. Sprains. Bruises. Bumps.

"I'm a fullback," Strong said with a chuckle. "That kind of goes with the territory. That's just kind of the way things are. You're always going to have some kind of pain or injury that you've got to push through."

In recent years, teammates have kidded Strong about being two inches shorter than he was when he entered the league because of all the linebackers he has slammed into while lead blocking for a succession of 1,000-yard rushers -- Chris Warren, Ricky Watters and now Shaun Alexander.

Since joining the league in 1993, Strong has carried the ball just 230 times for 899 yards and five touchdowns. His longest run from scrimmage was 21 yards in 2003. He also caught 218 passes for 1,456 yards and 10 touchdowns. But statistics don't reflect the important role he played clearing holes for the Seahawks top rushers.

When Strong woke up at the team hotel in Pittsburgh on Sunday morning, that's when he first sensed that something wasn't right.

"I felt something like maybe I had a little crick in the neck, and maybe a little tingling in my arm," Strong said.

"But I'd felt that before, so I didn't think anything about it."

He played in the game anyway. One collision, on a play that appeared as normal as any of the thousands in his career, left him with a burning sensation in his arms and legs.

"Even on film, it doesn't look like anything happened," Strong said. "But I knew right away -- this is something different, I've never felt this before."

During the plane ride back from Pittsburgh on Sunday night and then when he woke up Monday morning Strong said, "I kind of felt it in my gut that this was something significant. It wasn't just like any other ding or injury that I've gotten before in my career."

Additional tests performed Monday confirmed what Strong had sensed.

"I'm just very grateful I got to play as long as I did," he said.

With Strong's abrupt -- and unexpected -- absence from the offense, Leonard Weaver becomes the starting fullback. Ready, or not.

Weaver is just the latest heir apparent from a succession of players drafted to be "the next Mack Strong" that also included Reggie Brown, Chris Davis, Heath Evans and Tony Jackson. Those players came, and went, as Strong prevailed.

Weaver, like Strong, made the team as a rookie free agent (in 2005). Weaver, unlike Strong, is not a punishing lead blocker. Not yet, anyway.

"I have the utmost confidence in Leonard Weaver," Strong said. "I think he's going to make people forget about Mack Strong around here. He's going to have that type of impact. He has that type of ability and that type of talent."

That wasn't the case during the preseason, when Weaver came precariously close to playing himself off the roster. His efforts have improved during the team's 3-2 start to the regular season.

"He has to be the guy," coach Mike Holmgren said. "Actually, I'm very pleased on his progress. ... He's just gotten better and better and better."

But it's unfathomable that Weaver could develop enough to make anyone forget Strong.

"Mack is one of the great men I've ever been around," Holmgren said. "Great teammate. One of our leaders. ... He'll be missed that way, that's for sure."

Asked about the journey that took him from rookie free agent, to Pro Bowl performer, to five-time winner of the annual Steve Largent Award as the player who best exemplifies the spirit, dedication and integrity of the Seahawks, Strong offered, "I don't know if I can put that into words."

Fittingly, words cannot describe what Strong has meant to the franchise, either.